paper anyone?

Wonderful treats from the recent quick paper swap "Swallenge" that I received from LaWendula over at her Paper Swap blog. Thank you so much for all of your goodies! I'm amazed at how much you stuffed in that small envelope and how tidy you made the little packet! Mine was a little more unruly!! As for the rest of you, if you like paper and you haven't participated in one of these swaps, I encourage you to do so. They're wonderful and you get to meet the nicest people from all over the world! The good news is that LaWendula is planning on continuing these swaps through 2012, so there's still plenty of time for you to join and get a chance to beef up your paper stash. What are you waiting for, just do it!!! There's one going on right now that I'm participating in and another one in October. All details are on the Paper Swap blog.

Of course, I have to confess that I normally include some of my fibre offerings along with the paper, so you never really know just what you will get. That's what makes it so enjoyable!!!!

retro post - yikes!! wet felting!

Another orphan from a wet felting class I took at the Textile Museum of Canada. How many years ago you say? I can't remember! Who was the instructor? Sorry, can't remember that either! No real excuse other than the fact that I've never been good with dates or names and I think my brain is just too full right now. I do remember that it was an excellent class and the instructor showed some wonderful examples of her more creative pieces. Including masks made from soy silk. They fascinated me for some weird and wonderful reason!

Anyway this is an example of wet felting with a resist (heavy plastic) placed inside a wool roving sandwich to form a pocket. Multiple layers of roving on top and more on the bottom. From the little I remember, you felt the edges first (friction, water, soap, using your hands) and then the top/bottom. I have a vague memory of wrapping it around a piece of pool noodle and then rolling it around with my feet! When that was done "fulling" it by slamming it on the floor/table multiple times!! In my lofty imagination, I was making a beautiful, artsy purse. In reality, I forgot about the shrinkage factor and ended up with a rather useless tea cosy for a teeny little teapot. Anyway, I re-discovered the piece, while treasure hunting in a drawer recently. It's now proudly displayed on one of my bookcases!

From the little I remember of this technique, it was a bit of a pain! I was fumbling around with the resist and wet wool, while at the same time trying to felt in silk waste (the curly stuff) and woven fabric spirals. The silk waste wasn't a problem, but those other inclusions took quite a while to felt!!! Felting needles would have been a lot easier! Anyway, this reminds me that I have an entire tote full of coloured rovings that I should start playing with. When, you say? Who knows, I answer? It's going to be a very busy summer and I don't mean creatively!! Perhaps I should re-visit this rather cathartic process!

Detail shots!

The colours in this piece make me happy!!


Do you have any funny workshop experiments that you would like to share? Or older pieces you just can't bear to part with?

fat book swap - 2011

The wonderful results of a Fat Book swap that I participated in on the Mixed Media Art Friends Yahoo Group. This group is run by the generous and talented Belinda Spiwak. We were asked to make 37 pages of one technique on either cardstock or heavy weight watercolour paper. Some of the participants dropped out, so I received four of my own pages back. I guess that life interfered!!

On the back of each page are the instructions for the technique. What a wonderful resource for the future!! Belinda has had these huge swaps before, but the timing was never right for me to join. Of course, I regretted it every single time. The swaps on this group are infrequent, but she's hinted that the next one might be either a charm or ATC swap. I'm hoping for a charm one, because that's another I missed in the past. Boo hoo to me......because they were incredible!!!

Belinda's is the first one on the top on the left hand side.



Mine is the green one, second left on the bottom.







Three of my pages are in this shot. The mottled one in the middle of the top row and the two on the bottom.




Instructions for my technique are shown in my original post on the subject.

These pages will eventually be made into a reference book or I might even make a storage box. But for now I'll just fondle them and dream! As my bookbinding experience and time is limited, the final construction will need to wait.

Let the experiments begin!!!!! Now, does anyone know where to buy sequin waste?

what's blooming in Toronto 2

More images from Marilyn and Rain's garden.

The poppies are winding down, so this is was my last chance to catch the elusive sunlit poppies. It's no wonder you see so many of these in paintings. They're just breathtaking!







This clematis had a visitor!!



Living in harmony!




The lupin begins to bloom,



A beautiful new peony and quite long lasting as well.



All the pansy faces, remind me of a conversation grouping. I wonder what they're gossiping about?



This shot of the white rose was taken across the fence in the neighbours garden. I just heard that the lady of the house passed away on Monday, so I'll use this as a memorial. May she rest in peace.

what's blooming in toronto?

Peonies in Marilyn and Raine's garden. I confess that I can't resist the white ones so the "taken" is also literal, as I need to confess to pilfering three of these beauties......the smell is absolutely divine!!!





More flowers to come tomorrow..............

receiver's choice update - sara's block

As many of you know, I've been working on a "Receiver's Choice" block exchange with my friends at the Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group. This one is for Sara who's just about to escape from the toils of the classroom for a relaxing, creativity filled summer vacation. I thought that the image of the escaping kite, would be a particularly appropriate image. I envy Sara her extended time off (sigh!) and wish her sand in her toes, wind for her kite, a wonderful collection of shells, thread for her needles and an exciting and creative summer. Use your time wisely, it goes pretty fast!!

Sara's theme was the "Beach"!

Hand applique, hand embroidery, couching, commercial batiks and other fabrics.




Detail of the kite and the waves:





Detail of the driftwood, the couched Kite string and the waves:



Sorry, Sara! I was trying to convey the foam on top of the waves, with the white french knots!! Any shells on my beach would have been greyish and mixed up with the driftwood.

receiver's choice update

A couple more additions to my Receiver's Choice swap from the Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group. My theme for this swap is "Botanicals".

The first one was sent to me by Liz, who chose to make a lovely Tree of Life with fused applique and teeny, tiny hand embroidered, blanket stitches surrounding each piece. She used a very fine thread for the stitches and her technique is flawless. I must find out what kind of thread she used, because I'm sure that I need to add some to my stash!!



Jean sent me the purty, pink tulip that's oh so appropriate for the damp, wet spring! The colour makes me very happy!! She used a raw edge, fused applique technique, and added machine zigzag to finish off the edges. It just "shows to go you", that you don't need complicated techniques to be effective! My apologies to Jean for not noticing the loose thread. I'll fix it the next time I pull out the camera.



Thanks to these two blocks, I know have an idea on how I want to finish the quilt. Of course, with six more block to go, my idea could change many times......keep tuned for more updates!!!

blue mood

A few shots of the piece that will be displayed in the Southampton Art School Gallery from now until September. It's a sample for the Introduction to Fibre Art class that Deb Milton and I will be co-teaching, July 30 to August 1st. This piece was trouble from the very beginning!! I had a vision and the muse insisted on making me sweat! I knew what I wanted to do, but couldn't seem to translate it into a finished piece. At the end, we came to terms, but it was almost scrapped and replaced. I'm glad that I perservered!!



Acrylic painted cotton and silk, heat distressed organza, machine wrapped braid edging, beads, hand embroidery, free motion machine embroidery, stitching over a gap with watersoluble stabilizer and just a touch of shading using Neocolour II Watersoluble crayons. Another example of my designing without a net! Everything was cut freehand............



Mainly machine stitching, with machine over hand seed stitches in the sky)



I do love the ruffly texture in these flowers. I'm glad that I had just the right colour of organza in my stash.



I call it "Blue Mood" for obvious reasons!! Do you think that it was worth all the angst?

adventure on a saturday

Just a few photos from a lovely drive I took with Deborah Milton, yesterday. We dropped off a couple of pieces, for a class we're co-teaching at the Southampton Art School in the summer (more info to follow in the near future). No pretty little sandy beaches here, but instead a wild and wonderful beauty, on the shores of Lake Huron in Ontario. Despite the rather gloomy mood of some of the photos, it was a beautiful day for a three hour drive (each way)! Lucky for us, the art school is within walking distance of the beach.

The beach looks pretty lonely now, but I'm sure it will be packed by the next time we visit!



The gull was scoping out dinner!



I spotted a few blooms.



Dandelions were popping up all over the place but, I didn't expect to see one on the beach!




Spotted along the route. I couldn't resist the big, black crow and the rustic fence, now could I?




Hundreds of these windmills help to power the Toronto area. At least that's what someone told us when we inquired. It's funny to see what looks like hundreds of these, plonked down in the middle of farmer's fields. What the heck are they growing??

a few signs of spring

A few signs of spring from Marilyn and Rain's, rather wet garden.

Bleeding Heart - at it's prime!



Violets - don't you love the water droplets?



Candytuft - when this plant is blooming fully, it will be completely covered in white. However, I love the contrast of the white against the rich, dark green!

colourful treasures from down under

I received two lovely packages from Australia during the month of April. The first is from my friend Kaite in Bathurst, NSW. I had admired her googlie eyed koala, that was originally destined for a child in New Zealand, so she quickly made another and sent the original to me. Now doesn't that just make me feel special? She also sent some naturally dyed fabrics, a sample of her silk twining, a special little button (a little birdie told me that there were only two in the world) and a teeny sample of waxed irish linen thread. Do you believe that the pink fabrics were dyed with a green avocado? I feel oh so lucky to be the recipient of all this bounty!! Thanks my friend!

Did you notice that the Koala has been tarted up just a little??




The second package was from my new friend, NormaMc in Longwarrin, Victoria who, unfortunately, doesn't have a blog. In 2010, I discovered the wonderful paper swaps hosted by Lawendula. The following photos show the goodies I received from the very special Scavenger Hunt Paper Swap that Norma and I participated in. We tried to be faithful to the swap and had the best intentions, but in reality we both cheated just a little, by leaving out a few things and including some extras (fabric anyone??). It was fun trying to beg, borrow, steal and buy things to include in the package. Norma's to me was Australian themed. Mine to her was an eclectic mix of whatever I was able to throw together. I hope that she enjoys reading the Chinese newspaper that I sent!!! LOL! I think that I also sent a page of something in an arabic type script from a book I purchased in the library garage sale last year.

Included in the package were some very special things:

Some colourful bits and pieces that include some wonderful Japanese paper, a cute little doggie, a hand cut and painted house (and lots of other stuff).



A lovely, felted ATC sprinkled with beads and hand embroidery(does Norma have an embellisher?).



Three pieces of Australian themed fabric. The yellow one is my favourite!



A vintage Christmas postcard with the following written on the back:

"To Martin,

Wishing him a Merry Xmas from his Teacher

Dec, 1912"

I'm soooo in love with this little bit of history!!!




Thanks Norma for a great swap! I hope that you send some photos of my goodies when the envelope finally arrives. I was in such a rush to get it in the mail, that I forgot to take pictures. I'd like to post them on the blog.

scribble monoprint

My contribution to a fat book technique swap held by Belinda Spiwak over at Mixed Media Art Friends. I had to make 37 pages of the same technique and in return will receive 37 different pages, plus instructions. Wow! Technique nirvana!!!

The basic materials and directions are shown below. They're for your personal use and to share for a little playtime with your friends. If you plan on using them in any other way, I'd appreciate if you could list my blog in the credits.

Not the full stack, but you get the idea! -



Fanned out for effect -



A Picasa collage -



Hmmm....note to self......this might make a nice background or header one of these days!


Scribble Monoprint – Anne Marie Desaulniers

Ingredients:

Caran d’Ache, Neocolor II Watersoluble Wax Pastels
Strathmore 140 lb Cold Press Watercolour Paper
Water from the tap
Table salt
Large wooden spoon
2 – glass sheets, several inches larger than your paper

Playtime:

-Scribble directly onto the bottom glass plate with your Neocolor II’s (they’re just like crayons, so can take a lot of pressure). Use your lighter or brighter colour first, then add a darker one. Add a third colour if desired. Think and act like a child! Be messy and use a fair amount of pressure. Leave enough empty spaces to allow the colour to spread.
-Run your sheet of Watercolour paper under the cold-water tap. Get it soaking wet! Remember to wet both sides thoroughly. Hold the edges and allow the excess water to drip a bit (but not too much) and then quickly lay it down on your glass plate.
-cover with the second glass plate
-apply pressure to the back of the glass plate with the wooden spoon. Using circular movements, cover the entire area.
-when you’re finished, do it again!
-carefully pick up the edge of the second glass sheet and pull it away from the first glass sheet. You’ll notice that the WC paper will stick to it. Quickly turn it over (drips on the paper are good) and sprinkle with table salt from a saltshaker.
-separate the WC paper from the glass sheet and lay it to dry on a protected surface
-clean up and don’t forget to sop up the extra paint with a paper towel. The towel can be used in future art projects. Waste not, want not!!!!


Get messy and have some fun!!!

I hope that everyone that celebrates is having a very happy Easter! As for the rest of you, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day!!

trash to treasure

Something a little different!! This is my contribution to the wonderful "Trash to Treasure" swap that Diane is holding over at the Cloth Paper Studios Yahoo group. We were instructed to make journal covers out of scrap cardboard and then design and decorate with things that would otherwise go to waste and be thrown in the bin. Think of it as our little contribution to the environment! Of course, both the front and back of mine could be used as front covers, but I'll leave that choice up to our creative swap hostess.

Front Cover:



-Two layers of cereal box cardboard for the base
-Used tissue paper. Wrinkled up and attached with matte medium and then painted with copper acrylic paint
-Scrap of citrasolve treated national geographic, left over from my shadow box auction piece
-shredded paper stitched onto watersoluble, and then dissolved
-strips of shredded paper stitched onto an end scrap of fabric (cut off to straighten the edges when making the bee block)
-Flower - underlayer is a circle of the inside of a President's Choice 100% Sparkling Fruit Juice can (Kiwi Berry flavour if I remember correctly). The metal was cut with heavy duty scissors, pounded with a jewelry hammer and shaped into a shallow cup form. Then three layers of scrap organza (from another project), cut into circles, freemotion stitched and then held upside down over a candle flame to shape (just touched by the heat, not the fire except when I screwed up). I used tweezers to save my fingers. Note: Make sure that you do this outside, or in an area with extremely good ventilation. Use your respirator to protect your lungs as this stuff is toxic! I do it outside, wearing a respirator and with a big bowl of water beside me to douse runaway flames.
-Little balls of gold foil chocolate wrappers
-Leaf - gold, silver and bronze foil chocolate wrapper pieces, laid onto a scrap of tulle, encased in watersoluble stabilizer, freemotion stitched and then dissolved.

Detail:



Back Cover:




-Two layers of cereal box cardboard for the base
-Collaged chocolate wrappers, attached with matte medium
-Used felt pads from my last alcohol ink domino session at Deb's. Heat distressed! Edges accented with copper acrylic paint.
-Metal squares cut from the inside of a President's Choice 100% Sparkling Fruit Juice can. Spirals stitched s l o w l y on my sewing machine. No thread in the needle!! Pounded with a jewelry hammer and shaped.
-The foil chocolate wrappers (Ferrero Rocher, yummmm....) were accented with red oil pastels -- not a good choice as they didn't dry on that surface and needed a couple of coast of Krylon Workable Fixative

BTW, those metal squares really aren't all that comfortable to hold in your hands, so they should probably be kept away from little fingers.

Detail:



The flip side:



Top - the back of the front cover

-Collage of old book pages (they're fair game as the cover is falling off)
-Leftover copper paint from the front cover, shaped and dried on the freezer paper I was using to protect my work surface. I cut out the shape (paper and all) and then used matte medium to attach to the base
-a flyer from the "Sketch" program, that was left at my last quilt guild meeting
-More chocolate wrappers
-Bits of gold leaf left over from other projects. Flecks, really....left on the backing paper. I just never got around to throwing them away!
-Paint, gesso & teabag drippings
-a thin coat and polish of Renaissance Wax

Bottom - the back of the back cover

-Collage of old book pages (from the same book)
-Thread bits under a layer of Godiva tissue paper (left in a bag that someone gave me). Fixed with matte medium
-Walnut ink spray that didn't dry (probably because I was in a hurry and the matte medium wasn't absorbant), so had to be blotted and sprayed a few times to get some colour
-More chocolate wrappers
-Bits of gold leaf left over from other projects
-a thin coat and polish of Renaissance Wax

This was quite a fun process and they are my first EVER book covers!! I'll probably have separation anxiety when I give them away, but I expect that I'll be making more in the future. I've actually never made a book and I'm not sure that I left enough room for binding, but I'm hoping for the best!! So, what do you think?